This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The advent of the collaborative research discipline of Chemical Biology has empowered molecular and cellular biologists with new chemical tools and approaches and provided novel opportunities for drug discovery. With the support from the NM-INBRE program, an innovative, multidisciplinary team of investigators at NMT, initiated a collaborative chemical biology and screening program that has made significant progress identifying novel bioactive compounds as leads for drug discovery. These activities created an exciting environment to involve students in biomedical research, and have achieved remarkable success as measured by publications, successful faculty development earning tenure &promotion, and improved competitiveness for external funding. The extension of this initiative referred to as the Chemical Biology &Screening Collaborative Core (CBSC) builds on these successes and through productive collaborative arrangements augments and strengthens the state's biomedical research capacity. The Core consists of biology and a chemistry teams, working closely together to provide innovative research and training opportunities for faculty and students, who in turn produce novel technology, methodology and data with immediate outlets for this capacity through direct integration with projects from across the NM-INBRE network. In addition, CBSC facilitates research for investigators in the network by providing novel molecular resources and tools for discovery and target identification including compound libraries, optimized probes for functional and mechanistic studies, developing selective imaging agents, and advancing the development of biological assays for biomolecular screening. The ultimate long-term goal of the CBSC is to facilitate the discovery and translation of biological results into new therapeutics, diagnostics and interventions.